Shoppers hold their own as fuel rises

Photo / Steven McNicholl

Retail spending in January was flat but overall spending during the month was driven up by an increase in fuel prices, according to electronic spending data released yesterday.

The seasonally adjusted value of electronic card transactions in core retail, which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries, was down 0.1 per cent in January, compared with December 2009, Statistics New Zealand said.

A strong increase in the fuel retailing industry led to a 0.5 per cent rise in overall retail, business statistics manager Kathy Connolly said.

When the non-retail industries are included, the total value of transactions was up 1.1 per cent, the largest monthly increase since last July.

The non-retail industries were up 5.1 per cent last month. Trends for the value of transactions in the core, retail, and total series have all been increasing since January 2009.

Latest figures indicate that growth in the core retail series has flattened in recent months, up 1.3 per cent since June 2009. The retail series increased by 0.6 per cent in each of the past four months - the fastest rate of growth since December 2007.

- NZPA